I made a few changes to my Nomad, added a Hubbub Adapter and modified the shifter:
Hubbub Adapter:I just installed a Hubbub adapter, very happy with it after roughly 70 miles or 100 km of use. For those of you that do not know what that is, it is an adapter that can be installed on the end of a drop handlebar, the adapter has a section of tubing that is the smaller diameter that a Rohloff shifter will fit on. Thus, it is a way to install a Rohloff shifter on the end of a drop bar handlebar.
I previously had my shifter in a different location, but on my Iceland trip where I often was going quite slowly on gravel, I sometimes was hesitant to downshift because that required that I take one hand off of the handlebar. The link below is to a photo of the setup I used to use, note that the shifter is just to the right and slightly above the headtube, thus when my hand is on the shifter it does not aid in steering the bike.
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11720.0;attach=12685;imageNow, I can move one hand to the shifter and the hand on the shifter will also be on the handlebar for those times when I want both hands on the bars for better steering control at slow speed on uneven terrain. My Sherpa and my foldup bike both have bar end shifters. I am used to steering when I have one or both hands on the bar end shifter(s), thus I am confident that the Rohloff shifter on the end of the handlebar will give me better control when shifting on uneven terrain than I had before.
I now conclude that I should have done this before now. I have used my Nomad on a couple of multi-day off-road or 4X4 trips where everyone else was using mountain bikes. And I certainly noticed on those trips that the shifter was in an inconvenient place. But it was the Iceland trip where I had front panniers on the bike that slowed the steering action that really convinced me to make the change.
I have heard that some people have trouble with Hubbub adapters coming loose. It is held in place with one bolt that uses a 6mm Allen wrench. Repeatedly rotating the shifter puts some force on the adapter that could make it come loose, thus I tightened it down really well, hopefully well enough to make it permanent. And added a long 6mm Allen wrench to my list of tools to carry on a tour in case I need to tighten it later. The shorter 6mm wrenches that are part of most multi-tools do not reach far enough to tighten it, thus I will need to carry a different wrench for it.
Modification to Shifter That May (?) Extend Lifespan:After the recent posting by crazytraveler on how his shifter was abrading, I looked closer at mine (the round version) and mine shows a small amount of wear. It is not truly round, it has six higher ridges, but they are not very high, so it does not offer the grip of the early triangular ones or the later ones with the wavy ridges.
I previously commented that I had put a bead of Shoe Goo on my shifter to give me a better grip when my hands were wet and I was not wearing gloves. I peeled that bead off and although it adhered quite well, it did not adhere to the shifter well enough to tear the rubber so I could get it off with no damage. I cut three rectangles from inner tube rubber and glued them onto the shifter (using Shoe Goo as the glue) over three of the six ridges. I am sure this explanation is rather bad, so look at the photo and that will clarify what I did. I find that with wet hands without gloves, I get a very good grip on the shifter with those three new rubber strips added to the shifter. (A few days ago, I had to ride about 10 km in a thunderstorm, I had no problem getting a good grip on the shifter in the rain.) And those rubber strips will likely extend the life of the shifter too, as the shifter rubber should not abrade as fast. And since I already know that it can be removed without tearing the shifter rubber, if I want to replace the added strips with new ones later if they show wear, I can.
Cable Routing with Hubbub Adapter and V Brake Noodles:On the cable routing from my shifter (on the Hubbub adapter), I did not want the cable to come straight out of the shifter towards the headtube like most others use with that adapter, instead I wanted the cables to run forward and curve around. This is for aesthetics, when I have the handlebar bag on the bike, the cables are very close to the bottom right hand corner of the handlebar bag and out of the way. I do not stand on the pedals to accelerate, so I had no concern that the cables would be in the way when I pedal, thus this modification does not really serve any necessary function.
I used two 90 degree V brake noodles to accomplish the different cable routing (see photo). The Rohloff cable ferrules had too large of a diameter to fit in the V brake noodles, so I used plain metal cable ferrules instead.
I obviously had to install new cables because the noodles added about 3.5 inches to the total length. But, I had some spare cables on the shelf, so not a problem. I think they were Shimano cables, the cable heads measured 4.3mm in diameter which fit in the Rohloff shifter just fine.
So far, I am quite happy with the cable routing using the V brake noodles. I do not see any downside with this routing.
At some point I expect to cut off the white zip ties that I used to tie my cables together and replace with black zip ties to make it look a bit better. But that is a low priority.
Pertinent Links for Reference:The thread started by crazytraveler where he cites a worn out shifter.
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11923.0The Hubbub adapter
https://hubbubonline.com/?product=hubbub-drop-bar-adapterhttps://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-spares/hubbub-drop-bar-adaptor-mount-for-twistgrip-73-mm/?geoc=USA recent thread on the Hubbub adapter.
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11720.0A very long older thread on the options you can use if you use drop bars and a Rohloff shifter.
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=4049.0
